Riverdale High School (Portland, Oregon)

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Description:

Riverdale High School is a public high school in Portland, Oregon, United States. The high school is unique in that it is a public school, but students from outside the district must go through an admissions process and pay tuition to attend, unless they get a district transfer from their original district.

History

Founded in 1996, the school was established under challenging circumstances. The community of Dunthorpe, which was historically anchored by Riverdale grade school, faced changes in 1991, when Oregon Senate Bill 917 decreed that all school districts should have both primary and secondary schools, and expected smaller school districts like Riverdale to merge. With only one grade school, Riverdale was expected to merge with the Lake Oswego School District to the south or the Portland Public Schools to the north. Riverdale chose to keep its independence (and became the only previously K-8 district in Oregon to do so). The community purchased an old grade school, the former Collins View School in southwest Portland, which was built in the mid 1930s and closed in 1976. While it was being renovated, high school students were bussed to a leased location at Marylhurst University in neighboring West Linn.

The search for a permanent site

In 2001, challenge continued as the district asked voters to allow a permanent site be built for the school at a location outside of the district's boundaries. This was at a time when the high school had only 100...Read More